Search

Thank you for visiting Buffy-Boards. You obviously have exceptional taste. We just want you to know that:
1. You really should register so you can chat with us!
2. Twelve thousand people can't be wrong.
3. Buffy-Boards loves you.
4. See 1 through 3.
Come on, register already!

Discussion of 5.20 "Spiral" - Aired 5/08/01 (WB-US)

Yataro

Buffy, Willow, Tara, and Dawn narrowly escape from Glory, but only because she is hit by a truck. Buffy and the Scoobies leave Sunnydale in Spike's RV, because Buffy fears that they will never beat Glory.

Newly Human

I disliked the 1st half of this episode. Buffy carrying Dawn while running? I know it makes sense, since she can run faster than Dawn & would have no problem doing so while carrying her, but it looks lame! And the scene in Xander's apartment- Buffy's brilliant strategy is to run?

I do like both Spike & Giles driving the van. And Buffy's fight on top of the moving Winnebago was awesome.

What I don't get is when did Orlando (the crazy knight) see that Dawn is the key? Just because they're crazy doesn't mean they automatically know, right? Tara doesn't indicate that she realizes Dawn is the key until she looks at her in the right light (unfortunately in front of Glory).

I really like this meta from AV Club:

“Spiral” also deepens the themes of the season by setting Ben’s reaction to his lot in life against Dawn’s. When one of Glory’s minions tells Ben that his life was never really his, he says, “It doesn’t matter how I came by it, it’s mine.” Contrast that with Dawn, whining about how she shouldn’t exist; or compare it to Buffy, standing up for Dawn by hissing at the general that it’s not Dawn’s fault that she’s The Key. This is what Season Five has been exploring: the malice that creeps over us no matter what we do, and the malice that we partly bring on ourselves. Buffy brings Ben to the desert, where he changes into Glory and snatches Dawn. And when Buffy tries to run after her, she’s blocked by the wall that her own team created. Sometimes there are obstacles in front of us that we don’t deserve, and sometimes… we conjure them.http://www.avclub.com/articles/tough-lovespiralbelongingover-the-rainbow,44189/

Losing my soul

What I don't get is when did Orlando (the crazy knight) see that Dawn is the key? Just because they're crazy doesn't mean they automatically know, right? Tara doesn't indicate that she realizes Dawn is the key until she looks at her in the right light (unfortunately in front of Glory).

When he was at the hospital and Dawn comes into his room after running away from home. Crazy people don't automathically know, they look at the key and see. When Dawn and Spike were at the Magic box, Dawn finds the watcher's diary and reads that those and these can see the key in its real form, the energy. Something like that, I don't really remember how it went.

VisionGirlAh, I forgot about that scene from the hospital. Thanks, that was bugging me!

Bella

I am not a big fan of this episode, frankly it's a bit of - "yeah yeah, get it over with" for me. It's great to see the fight on the RV though, Spike saving Buffy from a sword, the kicking some Byzantium soldier ass and the lines that always makes me chuckle;
Willow: "Don't hit the horsies!"
Buffy: "We won't." (to Giles) "Aim for the horsies"

But beyond that, not a very strong or entertaining episode at all. The knights are annoying, the flight rather than fight concept is fine in theory but disappointing in practice, injuring Giles just to be able to call in Ben is just so silly and Spike being able to wander around the desert for a while only covered by a sheet of some sort is beyond ridiculous...

Ray of Sunshine..

I loved that episode in the way that it kept me gripped until the end. The fact that they ran shows how desperate Buffy was and also that, for the first time, Buffy doesn't know how to solve the problem and save her sister. Especially so soon after losing her mother, it just shows that she's lost. Logistically speaking I agree that Spike in the desert did seem a bit silly, but other than that I thought it to be quite a good episode.

Minuscule Redheaded One

I also think this episode did a great job in showing how desperate of a situation the Scoobies are in with Glory, but for the most part it didn't do much for me. I think it's the whole knights thing - there's just too much going on and nothing was explained very well. How did the knights find them in their RV, anyway? They must not have gotten very far.There are quite a few things that just bugged me, but I won't get into them.

I do like that they show that Buffy does have weakness and does have a breaking point. She is human, she is not perfect, and at this point, almost everyone important in her life has been taken away or hurt.

Potential

I also think this episode did a great job in showing how desperate of a situation the Scoobies are in with Glory, but for the most part it didn't do much for me. I think it's the whole knights thing - there's just too much going on and nothing was explained very well. How did the knights find them in their RV, anyway? They must not have gotten very far.There are quite a few things that just bugged me, but I won't get into them.

I do like that they show that Buffy does have weakness and does have a breaking point. She is human, she is not perfect, and at this point, almost everyone important in her life has been taken away or hurt.

Agree - Everything falls apart for Buffy as The Slayer and Protector - this is the complete opposite of Buffy's harsh words to Giles when they are first talking about the potential resolution to Glory and The Key. Not only does she lose Dawn to Glory but she has also now lost Giles and those harsh and threatening words to him have come back and turned on her.

While having Spike run around in the desert is totally unrealistic, this episode has one of the great Spuffy moments of their relationship when he stops that sword with his bare hands. And it also has that very nice moment between Xander and Spike with the lighting cigarette. All of the characters get some their special moments.

I think this is a very good set up for how everything will end with Buffy realizing that she can take on the complete role of "the parent mother" who will sacrifice her own life for the child and the Jossian ultimate hero resolution - the heroic self-sacrifice.

Scooby

I gotta say, I enjoyed watching Glory get hit by a lorry lol but I agree with [MENTION=10354]VisionGirl[/MENTION] it did look kinda lame, Buffy carrying Dawn lol
Loving Spike's goggles as he drives the Winebago (is that spelled right??? lol)
I want to know, how did the horse riding army find Buffy and the Scoobies???? I mean they're driving in the middle of a desert, how the hell did they know where they were?????
Poor poor Giles, getting kinda skewered Not nice

Home sweet virtual home!

Maybe they had some scouts every over the world or they used magic to find them.

I really enjoyed the fight-scenes on the top of the bus... and the moment with Spike and his ugly glasses . All in all there had been some funny moments at the bus. But I agree I didn't like Buffy's plan. Run away. I think she did that because she was so scared about Dawn that on the one hand, so she couldn't think as clear as she would do normally, and on the other hand she just wantet to get with Dawn away from Glory. As fast as possible. She was really desperatly...

Also this episode contains my favorite hero spike moment (the grabbing of the sword and holding onto it) especially considering this was pre soul. And even pre buffy's on any level returning his feelings of love.

"Well, yeah..."

Also this episode contains my favorite hero spike moment (the grabbing of the sword and holding onto it) especially considering this was pre soul. And even pre buffy's on any level returning his feelings of love.

This episode has some of Spike's finest moments in it, (particularly because they happen sans soul). As you mentioned, there's that great heroic sword moment, (which leads to a nice Spander scene which I know lots of people appreciate!), and there's the clear-cut display of empathy for Tara when he assures her that she hasn't hurt him in spite of his pain and still-sizzling hands, with Buffy clearly out of earshot.

... in a tutu. Pillock.

I loved this episode, not least because Giles / ASH looked (wait for it ...) particularly smoking hot in this ep. I also loved the tender scene between Buffy and Giles after he was hurt, and I LOVED Anthony's acting. I liked the Spike sword moment. I loved the creativity of setting up these knights, who were basically also good guys, as adversaries of our good guys. I loved the irony of Ben saving Giles' life, only to be killed by him later. This ep also gives rise to some great fan fiction about Giles beating himself up because his injury slowed them down, allowed Glory to capture Dawn, and ultimately cost Buffy her life.

Bite Me

First time in 5 years that Buffy's decided to run away from an enemy she thought she couldnt defeat. I liked the scene in the van when everyone is leaving Sunnydale. Poor Spike getting hit with sun light when Tara messes with the blinds and poor Buffy feeling all overwhelmed. The fight scene was great especially Anya hitting that guy with a pan. This episode had everything, it was great.

Apocalypse Engine

This entire episode filled me with a feeling of utter hopelessness. It reached its peak for me when they were trapped in that abandoned gas station (or whatever it was) with the knights of Byzantium surrounding them. That, Giles' grave injury and the fact that Glory seems like an unstoppable force just was too much. It seemed difficult to imagine how the scoobies were going to win; I couldn't think of anything myself. I felt terrible for them.

Then Glory shows up and takes Dawn. Ugh, gut punch. Buffy cracked and went catatonic, and I couldn't blame her.

Townie

Ben is so annoying in this episode. Once he patched up Giles he should have been in a rush to leave but there's no urgency. His behavior in this episode is like he has forgotten that Glory can take over his body at any damn point.

Tara not getting any better, Giles getting seriously wounded , then Dawn being taken... I don't blame Buffy for falling apart at the end. The whole situation seems so hopeless.